One Week Update

Jedi has made it through a full week without a seizure! He is responding well to the phenobarbital. The chiropractor was here on Saturday and remarked that Jedi didn't look or act like a dog on pheno, which was very encouraging. I was warned to be prepared for a change, though, and we definitely have experienced some side effects.

Monday was Jedi's hardest day, where I noticed some ataxia and general lack of coordination. He also had one episode where he'd been in a very deep sleep on the couch, and when he woke up it seemed like his hind legs were stuck in a constricted position. When he was able to get himself up and off the couch it didn't seem like his back legs were working very well and he was very unstable, but he did walk out of it.

Every day since then has been an improvement. I have been making a point to do a bit of agility with him daily, first at low heights and then short sessions at 22", to keep his mind and body active. He also still has free reign on our walks, where he continues to run around like a loon. Yesterday we tried (6) weaves and the a-frame for the first time. It seemed like he had to think very, very hard to do the weaves and they weren't the most coordinated, but he was able to do them. His a-frame was an awkward combination of his running performance and his old stopped behavior, but he was doing it safely. With this in mind, I decided to let him play when we went to a friend's house this afternoon to play on a USDAA@home Combined Relay course.

Everything went great! I'm seeing improvements every day, as his weaves had shown vast improvement already. It was helpful that we were running with a 16" dog, so any shared jumps were set to the lower height, but Jedi managed the 22" jumps as well. He even had a fairly decent a-frame! More than anything, though, he was just so happy to play.

As a general update, here's our current med routine: Before we start our morning walk I give Jedi a dose of CBD oil and a spoonful of honey. Breakfast follows our walk, usually around 8:00 a.m. Jedi's first dose of phenobarbital is given at 9:00 a.m. Mid-afternoon, especially if we've worked, I give him another spoonful of honey. I usually give him his second dose of CBD before dinner, which is between 5:00 and 6:00. I give his second dose of pheno at 9:00 p.m. in canned food. Everyone gets a treat before bedtime.

Day 2 (Friday, January 8, 2021) First day of meds

4:20 a.m. – Woke up in bed, Jedi appeared to be repositioning himself to higher on the bed. I reached out to pet him and he was responsive/happy, but almost immediately went into a seizure. Length of seizure was around 20-30 seconds again, including frothing and losing his bladder. We laid there for 2-3 minutes before he wanted to get up. He left the bed and ran into the living room. He was again acting like he didn’t want to come near me. I got him to go out the front door, where he continued to act disoriented for another minute or so. He approaches the other dogs like he doesn’t know them. In total the post-ictal phase was around 5-6 minutes this time. It’s a bit early for breakfast, but Jedi is acting like he’s starving. It’s a bit early for breakfast, so I gave him a spoonful of peanut butter. Given the timing of episodes thus far, I’m beginning to wonder if it’s triggered by blood sugar? He got a few small treats before bed at 11:00 p.m., following his usual dinner at 5:30 p.m.

Breakfast was given at 5:30 a.m.

Called the vet when they opened and it was decided to put Jedi on medication due to having three seizure events in less than 24 hours.

First dose of phenobarbital was given at 10:50 a.m. 32.4 mg x 1.5 tablets. Also gave ½ dropper of CBD oil (ISOHEMP 300mg).
 

Day 1 of Our New Journey

I'm resurrecting Jedi's blog, but for an unfortunate reason. Jedi had three seizures in <24 hours starting on January 7, 2021. We are now starting a new journey of living a happy and full life with epilepsy. I was advised to start keeping a seizure journal. I started out in a Word doc, so I'm going to transition what I have there to the blog, and then keep the updates here going forward so that it's easier to access from anywhere.

 Thursday, January 7, 2021

Got up @ 7:00, did our usual walk outside (30 degrees). Back in the house @ 7:45. I took a shower and Jedi hung out in the bedroom/closet. Was preparing breakfast around 8:15. Jedi was next to me like usual and I sensed something strange, but thought he was just being snarky towards Kaiser again. I looked down at him and saw that he was hunched over with his head down. Moments later he fell onto his side and his entire body went rigid. Shortly thereafter he began to convulse. This episode lasted 20-30 seconds and included frothing at the mouth and emptying his bladder. When the convulsions stopped it took a couple of minutes for Jedi to become responsive. He was unable to get up because his rear end was not working. When he was able to get up he was walking sideways and having a hard time staying on his feet. He initially went to the patio door, seeming to try to get away from me, and when I tried to call him to the front door he ran to the bedroom to get away from me. Got him outside and he ran to the corner, then back to the front door where he pressed himself against the door and seemed very scared by my presence. After about 30 seconds or so there was a switch flipped behind his eyes and he recognized me again. Returned to normal after that, appetite was normal at breakfast.

5:00 p.m. – Was sitting on the couch with the recliner up. Jedi was laying under the recliner. I heard some thumping and at first thought he was scratching himself, but when I peeked under the recliner I could see he was seizing again. I pulled him out from under the chair. He again frothed at the mouth and lost control of his bladder. This episode seemed a little shorter than the last, maybe 15 seconds? When he stopped convulsing, this time I did not urge him to get up at all and instead just stroked him for about a minute until he stopped bulging his eyes out like he was scared. He again struggled at first to get to his feet, but was much steadier than following the episode this morning. Took him outside again, but he just wanted to come in and get dinner. As for activity leading into this event, we haven’t done anything since we returned from the vet at 3:30 this afternoon. Appetite was normal, ate dinner eagerly.